John Cusack Will Play Edgar Allan Poe In The Raven

Let’s face it, a lot of the casting news I end up reporting is utterly depressing and Twilight related. But every once in awhile, someone in Hollywood just gets it. And gets it right. This is such a time, because John Cusack is playing Edgar Allen Poe.

Cusack announced his casting himself through Twitter saying: “officiali- will play edgar allen poe in fall-a-film called the raven, send any poe- gold - my way as i begin this journey into the abyss”. I’m already in love with his approach to the character, and he hasn’t really even said anything. It is perhaps somewhat worrying, however, that he misspelled the man’s name. Though I suppose he’s an actor, not a writer and who really cares if he spells Allan with an “a” or an “e”. I'm certainly not immune to the occasional typo. You'll probably find at least one in this article.

The movie in question is probably a period thriller which James McTeigue, of all people, was once supposed to be interested in directing. There hasn’t been any update on the project, however, since way back in 2009. Presumably McTeigue is still involved.

When last he talked about it McTeigue described it as “an amalgamation of Poe's stories crossed with Se7en” Basically he’s turned it into a serial killer story set in 1850s Balitomore with Edgar Allan Poe, now played by John Cusack, in a race against the clock to catch the killer… all while fighting not to go mad? One can only hope. Cusack is the perfect Poe.